Oh damn and bother. It would seem the bowling action I've been finely honing for the past three months is in need of some pretty fundamental rethinking.It all stems from the point at which I wind up to roll my arm over. Taking a look at the video I posted the other day you'll see from the side-on angles towards the end that rather than actually roll the arm down, round and over like a windmill, it's more of a "stretch back and ping forward" motion, a bit like a rubber catapult. It seems as if this, and having slightly feeble muscles, is the culprit of my aching shoulders.
How do I know this? Well I've done a couple of stints in the garden trying to roll the arm right round, and my shoulders aren't barking hardly at all, which is pretty bloody unusual where my bowling's concerned. Liz on the Big Cricket forum's been giving me good advice on it, and since I'm a beginner and want to iron out as many bad habits as possible right at the start, it's pretty much a case of re-evaluating every part of my bowling action from start to finish to see what needs to be changed to incorporate this new action.
When I first tried it, it was crushing. It was just like it was when I first started three months ago, only this time it felt like throwing all that hard work away. I was bowling too fast, had no control of line OR length, couldn't generate any spin, was spraying the ball all over the place, and it just felt totally alien.
Thankfully, about an hour's practise later I've now slowed myself down a bit, got some turn, and although it's not as if I'm at the same level I was with the "catapult" action, I'm homing in on how to get it right. Hopefully it'll only be a month or so with the "windmill" before I surpass where I am now with the "catapult", and it definitely feels like it has more potential.
It's still bloody frustrating though...
1 comment:
I'm with you mate, my bowling has gone to pot - I bowled the worst ever spell of my life on Sunday. I knew there was some evidence that things weren't too good but Sunday was horrific. I've been working on my over-rotation and it seems to have had a detrimental effect on my bowling, the accuracy is still there but I can't get the ball to turn off the wicket anymore. I had a practice tonight and hit the stumps again and again when I was trying to turn the ball away from the stumps. I also had a go at the Big turning leg-break and that didn't work out any better either. In the short term I feel screwed.
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